Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries (Orpic) has finalised the front-end engineering design (Feed) of its $3.6-billion Liwa Plastics Industries Complex (LPIC).

The Feed has been finalised with details of costs and layouts of the future operations, Orpic said in a statement on its website.

The project will enable Oman, for the first time, to produce polyethylene, a form of plastic that rates highest in terms of global demand and is used in many products that are part of our daily routine.

Developed by Orpic, in partnership with Chicago Bridge and Iron Company (CB&I), the Feed is now ready to be submitted to the companies that were pre-qualified to participate in the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tender process, it said.

The award of the EPC packages are expected to be made in the last quarter of 2015.

“The Liwa Plastics Industries Complex will put Oman in the roadmap of the international petrochemicals marketplace, reinforcing Orpic’s position as a significant player. The market for plastics is growing globally and the project will firmly contribute to the development of a downstream industry that is substantial for the diversification of the Omani economy. Our teams worked hard to deliver the Feed within 12 months, which is a challenge considering the size and scope of our project,” said Musab Al Mahruqi, CEO of Orpic.

The project comprises a 859 KTA steam cracker, 880 KTA polymer unit, a natural gas liquids (NGL) extraction unit and a 300-km long NGL pipeline from Fahud to Sohar.

With the completion of LPIC, the plastic production in the sultanate will increase by 1 million tonnes, giving Orpic a total of 1.4 million tonnes of polyethylene and polypropylene production by 2018. - TradeArabia News Service